Game geeks started playing the gun-toting, demon-ridden video game Doom on cell phones Thursday, reflecting an effort to lure hard-core gamers to the mobile market.

Los Angeles-based Jamdat Mobile said the game has the look and feel of the original PC-based version, including enemies like Pinky Demon and Zombie, and the “old favorite” weapons like the Super Shotgun and BFG. Based on iD Software’s original version, the game can be played across wireless carriers in the U.S.

While playing games on cell phones has rapidly become a multibillion-dollar worldwide market over the past few years, most mobile games have been simple puzzle-type affairs.

Analysts say mobile game companies need to expand beyond simple time-killers to connect with the hard-core audience that will spend more time and money playing.

But the mobile gaming market is getting crowded and companies like Glu Mobile, In-Fusio, and Digital Chocolate are all battling it out for dominance.

Jamdat’s bet that gamers will play Doom on their cell phones shows a maturation of the mobile gaming market and a desire to expand the market. Jamdat CEO Mitch Lasky called it a “milestone in mobile gaming.”

“We’re putting a little hell in your pocket with a new incarnation of Doom,” said iD Software’s CEO Todd Hollenshead.

In September, mobile game publisher In-Fusio signed a deal with Microsoft to turn the shooter video game Halo into a mobile game.

Doomed?

By some estimates mobile games are bigger in the U.S. than other types of cell phone content, like ringtones, music tracks, or wallpaper. But as the mobile gaming market matures and the publishers look to expand the market outside of the basic time-killer games like Tetris and Bejeweled, some analysts say wooing the hard-core gamer could be no easy task.

Cell phones with small screens and slow networks mean gamers could be disappointed with the experience, especially gamers who loved playing Doom on bigger, faster PCs.

Still, that won’t stop the game publishers, cell phone makers, and cellular carriers from trying. English research firm Informa Telecoms & Media say that multiplayer networked games, like those driving the PC and the console markets, present the greatest potential revenue in mobile gaming.